The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-06-16
STANTON. VIRGINIA. JUNE16, 1887
renress. until it fell to the lot of the eighth

repress, until it fell to the lot of the eight
generation of Americans, no longer able t
control OF harmonize them, to resort to til
arbitrament of arms. Then followed
heroic period which gave birth to great names
glorious achievements and heroic deeds On
crushed The strength of anything is meas
ured by the force required to break it. Th
strength of Southern society was measured b,
a million men and S3, 900 600, 900. Incident
ally and necessarily tho character of human
labor became homogeneous throughout tn
land. Political parties had no more to do will
the canse of the war than the church militan
has to do with earthquakes. (applause) TIL
costly lesson we learned was that labor is thu
lever that moves the world of human life an(
in republic it must be free Human labo
is Godlike in this, that it materializes though
and is creative in its functions 1t is unre-
Quilted whenever any portion of its wages arr
expanded on fictitious values.
The Nation can remember with honorable
pride that
SOUTHERN MEN WERE GREAT IN WAR;
it remembers that when their cause was hope
lessly lost they were greater in accepting will
the dignity of brave men the conditions an6
consequences of defeat; but posterity will
never forget that they showed themselves
greatest in meeting promptly and manfully the
exigencies of free labor (applause.) For over
O00 vnarc mankind bac baan' inct,,1o tad ond
civilization benefited by picture of Cincin-
natus called from his pillow to assume the dig
mites and WELD the power of the Roman state.
A far greater picture in its effects and benefits
was furnished mankind when your Governor,
Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, (applausel, whom I men
/ ton as representing the best and highest type
of Southern manhood, after the war took off
his coat and put his hand to the pillow for the
first time. (applause.)
God who gave us our path and motion in
the universe and said ''By the sweat of thy
face shalt thou eat bread" will smile on a
people who recognize and respect the dignity
! of labor.
Amid the elder generation before me [ rec
ognize the faces of those who must have been
my comrades of the war. We certainly were
comrades in several relations In our cam
paigns and battles the same sky covered us,
the same storms drenched us, we were be-
! spattered by the same mud and begrimed by
| the same dust and our marches and fatlgues
were cotemporaneous and coequal. We as
saulted each other until we became well ac-
| 4o1 ar1t r,f boo
soaoa1 feelings existing between those who
We're acquainted with each other or were
| friends when the war divided them, I may
mention
| A CONVERSATION I ONCE HAD WITH PRESIDENT
LINCOLN,
| which may be of interest. 1t was shortly after
| the first great cavalry battle of the war, at
Kelley's Ford, on the Rappahannock, early in
| 1868. The President came down to visit the
Army of the Potomac opposite Fredericksburg
and to review it. He did me the honor to
send for me to visit him in the evening. We
had an interview of an hour in his tent. He
asked me many questions about the army, and
especially the Cavalry Service and its great
expense. He expressed great interest i'll the
fight we had had at Kelley's Ford, and enqui-
red particularly about the Confederate COM
manders. l told him how the fight came to
| pass, and showed him q note which had re-
ceived from General Fitzhugh Lee with re-
ference to his wounded. He put on his spec
taces and read it carefully. Then he asked ::
! ''Were you and General Lee friends?"
| Certainly" said 1, always had been"
''What would happen" he asked, ''Should
you meet on the battle field?"
zone or both of us would be badly hurt or
killed." said, 'obliged to be, Mr.. Presi
dent'
He leaned that picturesque and mournful
face of his on his hand, and after pause, said
thing is q war like this, where personal
''friends must STAY each other and die as
friends"
told him that undoubtedly Lee thought
he was doing his duty, and knew I was do
ing mine"
Eyes," said Mr.. Lincoln, II understand
your feelings, but there are many who would
think that you ought to hate each other"
Finally, he said: ''General Averell, l wish
you would give me this letter of Lees"
Surely take it, Mr.. P esident," replied;
and I have been told by one of his biographers
that he carried the note in his pocket for a
long tlme and would frequently show it.
This statement of personal relations and
feelings seemed to make revelation to Mr..
Lincoln, for he had heart and an under
standing large enough to consider every emo
ton of all the people in this country, which
he SO longed should be nation. (applause)
THE MEMORIES OF THE FOUR YEARS WAR
which cluster above the graves of the sBlue"
and the Gray" are identical and equally
dear to the surviving comrades of each There
is one grand memory which We may ever en-
JOY, the fortitude and devotion of American
soldiers, North and South, and their manhood
in battle will not fail to awaken the admiration
of mankind so long as any people are called
Americans. (applause.) The grandest efficient
result of the war was to fortify our nation with
a public opinion which has since environed
the world. Where is the nation that does not
recognize its power? or that can afford to dis
regard it. The migrating thousands who are
pouring into our country from all nations and
races, attest the universal and continued effect
and grandeur of that opinion. 1t needs no
laundering navy nor consuming army to make
it manifest.
Our future path as nation has been IN
trodden by any other, and our destiny is
beyond human ken. Our industries will be-
come more varied and definite, and as their
equation approaches perfection, the Nation
will near the long repose of contentment, and
the rhythm of free and requited labor will
move the peoples of the earth to o higher So
cial development and to more general union
Of mankind.
The persistent and universal force on earth
which moves people to build churches is the
same which has assembled you to-day-the
worship of the Godlike in man;-the recogni-
ton of the Image in which we are created
PATRIOTISM
is not an inspiration, it is necessary condi-
ton of social existence. 1t is the threshold
!